This invention relates generally to conveyor loader devices and in particular to devices for loading garment hangers from a garment loading position up to and onto a conveyor system.
In the clothing dry cleaning and laundry industry, conveyor systems are used extensively to eliminate much of the hand operations of moving the garments from one operation to the next, processing garments through an operation and for storing and possibly sorting the garments prior to pick-up by the customer. In the work area, in order to increase the availability of floor space the conveyor systems, of necessity, must be elevated so that workers and equipment can pass freely underneath. The conveyors are also elevated so that they can enter and exit process equipment. It is, therefore, a problem to load such conveyors when they are out of reach of the loading operator. The conveyor systems of the prior art attempt to solve this problem by providing a transition structure for lowering the entire conveyor system at the point of loading and then providing a second transition structure for raising the system during the rest of its journey around the plant. Such transitions can be somewhat expensive and limit the location for loading garments.
The apparatus of the present invention is a loading device which permits an operator to work at floor level to place the garment on a static hanger and then raise the garment and hanger to the conveyor level for loading on to the conveyor system.